Chapter 9
Stazzi was sobbing in panic as she quickly scrabbled to the side of the bed to switch on the bedside lamp so she could take a closer look at Alexandre. His face was deathly pale, and there was even a blueness starting to appear beside his mouth, his breath becoming a shallow, painful rasp in his throat.
Oh my God, Alexandre really was dying.
How could Alexandre be dying? Why was he? What could possibly have caused such a reaction in a man only in his midthirties, who had certainly been healthy enough just a few hours ago to make love to her—
Reaction.
Alexandre was showing all the signs of an allergic reaction, and both Gerard and Alexandre had told her he couldn’t tolerate shellfish.
Okay so they hadn’t eaten any fish at dinner, but what else could this be?
Stazzi was crying in earnest as she began to rifle through Alexandre’s clothing scattered about the bedroom floor, searching for the epinephrine pump she knew most if not all people affected by such a severe allergy always carried with them.
Nothing.
She sat back on her haunches, panicked gaze flicking everywhere as she searched the surfaces of the room for the medication, so very aware of the time passing. Alexandre’s bodyguards. One of them was sure to be outside in the hallway, and he would know what to do—
There. On the dressing table.
Stazzi had only ever seen this reaction once before in her life, in the hotel restaurant, as it happened. But she remembered what had to be done as she grabbed the epinephrine and hurried back to the bedside, placing the pump against Alexandre’s neck and pressing the button to inject the medication. As far as she could remember, the recovery had been almost instantaneous.
As it was with Alexandre. His face was becoming less pale, the blueness disappearing from his lips as he began to breathe more easily.
He gave a groan as he rolled over onto his side, eyes flickering beneath his eyelids for several seconds before he opened them and looked up at her. “Anastazia…?”
Stazzi didn’t answer him as she dropped the pump onto the bed. She hurried across the room to grab and put on a robe from the bathroom before throwing open the door. As she’d thought, a bodyguard was standing out in the hallway. “Prince Alexandre has suffered an allergic reaction. You need to—” She didn’t get any further as the man pushed her aside and ran into the bedroom, all while talking into the radio attached to his lapel.
What happened next was a blur of activity as several more bodyguards rushed into the bedroom, followed a few minutes later by a fully dressed Gerard St Sebastien. The latter flicked Stazzi a censorious and damning glance as she sat unmoving and numbed in a chair beside one of the long windows before he hurried to his cousin’s bedside.
Stazzi might have been invisible as the bedroom filled with yet more people over the next few minutes. A doctor, followed by two ambulance attendants, who bundled Alexandre, naked and still slightly groggy, onto a mobile stretcher before almost running out of the room with him strapped to it and down the hallway to the lift. All the bodyguards and Gerard St Sebastien accompanied them.
Leaving Stazzi sitting alone, still wearing only the hotel bathrobe, in a now-empty bedroom that only seconds ago had been filled with people. The bedroom where she and Alexandre had made love so wildly only hours ago.
Oh God, he had so nearly died. If she hadn’t woken up when she did…
She gave a choked sob as the tears fell softly down her cheeks. “Thank you for saving Alexandre’s life,” she murmured shakily. “You’re welcome,” she answered herself, knowing that self-pity was ridiculous in the circumstances, but too shaken still to be able to rationalize anything past the fact that Alexandre might have died if she hadn’t awoken when she did.
If that really was an allergic reaction to shellfish, then Stazzi had no idea how he could have ingested it. They had both eaten burgers for dinner, and the kitchen staff knew to be extra careful about any of the food they prepared for the prince. And yet all of Alexandre’s symptoms, and the fact he had recovered after being injected with the epinephrine, pointed to that having been the reason he had almost died.
Stazzi had no idea how long she remained seated in the bedroom, still too shocked to be able to move.
Certainly long enough for Daniel Meyers to arrive and find her sitting alone and dressed only in a robe in Prince Alexandre of Androcco’s hotel bedroom.
“Daniel Meyers totally overreacted.” Lissa angrily paced the sitting room in their apartment, having delayed leaving for work once Stazzi told her what had happened. “You saved Alexandre’s life, for goodness’ sake.”
Yes, Stazzi had done that. But she had still been suspended and sent home until Daniel had carried out an investigation. He wanted to know exactly how and why Prince Alexandre had suffered an allergic reaction and had to be rushed to a private clinic for treatment. The reproach in Daniel’s eyes also said that he would then have to make a decision regarding Stazzi having obviously spent the night with the prince.
“It’s almost as if he thinks you’re responsible for Alexandre becoming ill.” Lissa gave a disgusted shake of her head.
“Maybe I am.” She shrugged. “He has an allergy to shellfish, so maybe he’s now developed an allergy to my perfume too. Or my body lotion. Who knows why it happened? The important thing is that Alexandre is hopefully going to be okay.”
The worst thing was Stazzi had no way of knowing whether he was or not. Her suspension meant she was no longer in the loop to be able to know the health of one of the hotel guests, and she had no idea what clinic Alexandre had been taken to. She doubted they would give any information out about one of their patients even if she did. And Alexandre was in no condition to let her know how he was.
“Well…yes,” Lissa conceded grudgingly. “But a lot of thanks you got for that.”
“I don’t need thanks.” Stazzi grimaced, still nursing the mug of coffee Lissa had made for her when she came out of her bedroom ready for work and realized Stazzi was sitting in the darkness of the sitting room, still dressed in the clothes she had been wearing when she went out the previous evening. “I just need to know he’s okay, and I doubt Daniel Meyers is in any mood to tell me.” She frowned.
Lissa sighed. “I could always ask the asshole…? I’m sure Ash would be able to find out how Alexandre is.”
“Asher!” Stazzi brightened. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Because she was too upset and sleep deprived to be able to think straight, that was why. “No, I’ll give Knight Security a call, Lissa,” she reassured her, knowing by her friend’s relieved expression exactly how much Lissa would have hated having to talk to Asher Knight again. But she would have done it for Stazzi. “Directory Enquiries are sure to have the number listed.”
“Under asshole?”
Stazzi was totally aware Lissa was trying to alleviate some of her tension with humor, and she loved her friend for it, but she was far too upset about Alexandre to respond.
Directory Enquiries did have a telephone number listed for Knight Security, and even though it was still early, Stazzi immediately called it, only to be told by the woman who answered that Mr. Asher Knight wouldn’t be in the office today. Stazzi’s enquiry as to when he would be had been answered with the woman assuring her someone else in the company would be happy to assist her if she would like to make an appointment. Stazzi had politely declined, but left a message she had called and her telephone number, so that Asher could return the call the next time he was in the office.
“Would you like me to stay home with you today?” Lissa voiced her continuing concern.
“No.” Stazzi gave a rueful smile. “No point in both of us being miserable.”
“Misery loves company.”
“Not me,” she assured her friend firmly. “You’re already late to work as it is. Don’t worry about me. I’ll spend the day cleaning the apartment.” It didn’t particularly need cleaning, and she doubted it would stop her thinking about Alexandre, but she needed to keep herself busy.
“How did last night go?” Lissa continued to hover. “Apart from the Alexandre-almost-dying-next-to-you-in-bed thing, of course,” she added with a wince.
Stazzi gave a rueful smile. “Apart from that, it was wonderful. Just an ordinary date. Dinner and watching a movie together.”
“And mind-blowing sex.”
“Well…yes, that too.” Her cheeks warmed self-consciously.
“Look, I’m sure that Alexandre will contact you himself once he’s able to.” Lissa brightened. “I have an aunt who has allergies, and it doesn’t take long for them to recover once they’ve received their medication. Alexandre will probably be back at the hotel later today.”
“He’s a prince, Lissa. I’m sure they’ll want to keep him in for observation at least until tomorrow.” By which time, Stazzi would be climbing the walls in her anxiety to know if he was okay.
She waited until Lissa had reluctantly left for work before allowing herself to wallow in thoughts of Alexandre. Last night had been…amazing. Not just the sex, but the whole evening. She had felt totally relaxed in Alexandre’s company as they ate dinner and then watched a movie together, and she knew he had felt the same way. The amazing sex had been a natural progression from feeling so at ease with each other.
Stazzi felt a sense of unease the more she thought about last night.
Alexandre had been fine when they made love the first time, and then again when they both woke an hour or so later. If his allergic reaction had been to something he ate, surely it would have affected him much earlier than it had? Unless it really was her perfume or body lotion?
Or maybe something about this situation was just off…?
“What do you mean, you have no idea what happened to Anastazia?” Alexandre demanded of his cousin as he quickly dressed in the tailored trousers and formal shirt brought to him in the clinic from the hotel by one of his bodyguards earlier that same evening.
“You’re supposed to stay in the clinic overnight—”
“Fuck that,” he dismissed as he sat up on the bed after putting on his shoes. “Where is Anastazia now?”
Gerard glared. “Who gives a damn what happened to the little whore who shared your bed— What the hell are you doing?” He gasped as Alexandre stood abruptly to grab him by the throat and push him up against the wall. Hard.
Alexandre’s face was only inches from his cousin’s. “I give a damn. And don’t ever talk about Anastazia in that derogatory way again.” His voice was dangerously soft. “Do you understand?” His fingers tightened in warning about the other man’s throat.
“Yes, I understand. I can’t breathe, damn it.” Gerard tried to dislodge his fingers. Without success.
Alexandre gave one last warning squeeze before releasing him and then stepped away from the other man. “Give me your mobile.”
“What?”
“Bruno omitted to bring my mobile from the hotel, I want yours so I can call and check on Anastazia.” His hands tensed at his sides before he forced them to relax again, his frustration with this situation such that he was only just restraining himself from grabbing Gerard and attempting to squeeze the life out of him for a second time.
Alexandre had been too out of it earlier this morning to do any more than try to breathe, but it was unforgiveable that his cousin had just left Anastazia alone in the bedroom at the hotel while Alexandre was rushed to the clinic. She must have been terrified when she woke up and found him unconscious in bed beside her, and then was left alone at the hotel in the aftermath.
Gerard’s top lip curled back in a sneer. “Why bother? She spent her night with a prince—”
“Have you always been this much of an obnoxious prick, and I’m only just noticing it, or is this something new?” Alexandre kept his voice level, unemotional, in an effort to stop himself from actually murdering his own cousin. Now wouldn’t that look wonderful in the headlines: The Prince of Androcco Guilty of Murdering his Heir!
“I’m being realistic, not obnoxious. This relationship is going nowhere, so why make such a fuss—”
“Give me the fucking mobile, Gerard. Now,” he barked as his cousin merely continued to look exasperated.
Gerard reluctantly took the phone from the breast pocket of his jacket and handed it to him. “I wouldn’t bother trying to reach her at the hotel.”
Alexandre stilled with his finger poised over the buttons of the mobile. “Why not?”
His cousin shrugged. “Daniel Meyers called me to check on your condition while the doctors were examining you. He’s set up an enquiry into what caused this. He also assured me that Miss Carmichael has been suspended, for misconduct with one of the guests. I’m presuming that’s you—”
“And you let him do that?” Alexandre demanded incredulously.
“Of course.” Gerard eyed him coldly.
Alexandre’s teeth ground together. “The doctor said I would be dead if not for Anastazia’s swift action in giving me the epinephrine.”
“I’m aware of that. But—”
“There is no but to that sentence, Gerard,” Alexandre grated. “The principality of Androcco should be giving her a fucking medal, not allowing her to be suspended from her job.”
“I— Where are you going?” His cousin stared as Alexandre threw the mobile down on the bed in disgust before striding across the room to fling open the door leading out into the corridor.
“Mind your own fucking business!”
“It’s your fucking that’s going to create a scandal,” Gerard snapped. “You can’t go chasing after this woman like some infatuated schoolboy—”
“I am the ruling prince of Androcco.” Alexandre turned to draw himself up to his full height of several inches over six feet. “As such, I will decide what I will or won’t do. Do you understand?”
Gerard’s eyes glittered with anger. “Fine. Go ahead. Make a fool of yourself, and Androcco, by chasing after some woman who no doubt makes a habit of sleeping with the guests— Okay, okay, I’ve finished with the warnings as to the inadvisability of your actions.” He held up yielding hands as Alexandre gave a low growl, the muscles bunched in his shoulders in preparation for launching himself across the room. “I completely wash my hands of the whole situation. But you can bet that the governing council of Androcco will have plenty to say about it.”
“As, no doubt, you’ll take great pleasure in reporting back to them.”
“You leave me no choice when your actions are so detrimental to Androcco.”
Alexandre gave his cousin one last narrow-eyed glare before turning back to the hallway. “Keep him away from me,” he snarled at the bodyguard standing outside. “And instruct my driver to bring my car to the front of the clinic,” he added as he strode off down the hallway.